Topeka ? The Topeka school district is finding ways to use 16,000 pounds of ice it received from the federal government.

Dianna Gee, a spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the 800 20-pound bags of ice FEMA gave to the Topeka school district last month were left over from Kansas flood relief efforts.

“We estimated it would take two weeks to get the water supply back on in certain parts of southeast Kansas,” Gee said. “The water systems came back on earlier than we expected, so we had excess ice. None of it was wasted.”

FEMA and state government officials found school districts, service organizations and other community groups that could use the ice. FEMA estimated ice has a shelf life of about a year.

The Topeka school district recently built a new freezer, so its service center had space in the old one to store some extra ice, said Lucy Nixon, distribution supervisor for the district. The bags arrived about three weeks ago.

“I was told free ice was coming our way, so we were warned,” Nixon said. “We just didn’t realize it would be 800 bags.”

While most of the ice the district received is still in the freezer at the service center, district officials say it will get used.

“It’s actually come in handy for us,” Nixon said. “We use it. We’ll use it all.”

She said an e-mail was sent to district schools to let them know about the ice.

Several elementary schools asked for some to cool down refreshments for after-school groups or evening meetings. But most of the ice has gone to Chandler Field and the Hummer Sports Complex for coaches and athletes, Nixon said.

“Coaches got word we had the ice, and they were able to use it out there. We deliver about 100 bags a week to them,” Nixon said. “We don’t want any of it to go to waste.”